The Women Behind The Man
by Marik Swift
Summary: It has been Five years since the Black Rebellion, and while Kallen had though that she had gotten past all bad memories of Lelouch, she is extended a hand of friendship by the two women she least expected. As these three lives get entangled, what's the worst that can happen she figured. Notes: Shirley never died


Kallen peered up at the small cow patterned clock centered just above the back wall of the bar counter. It said 2:38 PM. She sighed taking another swig from her third glass of brandy, finishing it off. She was surprised that it was actually finished already, and she swore as she slammed the empty glass down on the counter. She had only hoped to by one glass of brandy to pass the time, but after waiting for an hour and a half, the latter had been her third glass and she was already craving another.

It had been around the very same time in the morning when she had gotten the unexpected phone call that had her in the bar she was, sipping on brandy. Gino had already been sleeping after a tough day of work, and feeling unwearied, Kallen had stayed up and watch television until she hopefully drifted into slumber.

When the only house phone in Dino's apartment had hollered from the kitchen—it was there because of her last use to chat with Cornelia—she sighed. Feeling too worn out to walk all the way to the kitchen, she had let it ring out the first time. Then when it rang a second time only a few short seconds later she ignored it once more. When it rung a third time, out of fear of it waking up Dino she had went to it hesitantly and answered.

"Who the hell is this at this time of the morning?!" she had hissed through the phone, trying her best not to be completely rude by using the F word—despite how much she wanted to.

"As pleasant as ever Kallen," a reply came from the other end. The voice at first had seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on who was speaking.

She peaked through the apartment halls into the open bedroom door to see if Dino was still sleeping. "I repeat, who the hell is this and what do you want?"

As long as it wasn't her mother or such then she had no problem cussing them out like she was. Everyone who knew her how brash she was and those don't know her then she really couldn't care even if they were the governor.

From the other end she could hear swallowing, and then another voice spoke—this one she quickly recognized. "She might be busy."

C.C.

Putting two and two together—particularly her mind running across Lelouch—she had figured out who the other voice belong to. Shirley Fernette.

"What the is it, Shirley, C.C" She said there names a bit venomously. She returned to the living room and threw herself back in the couch, fondling with a loose thread in her shorts.

"Can't we just call you to catch up on good old times?" Shirley had spoken kindly.

"I haven't seen neither of you since the Black Knights incident five years ago, and even then we weren't exactly the three musketeers, so again I ask, what the fuck do you want," Kallen had responded annoyed.

The only thing the three ever had in common was that they were the three _main_ women involved n Lelouch's love life.

"Okay, fine, I guess we don't have any good times to remember, and I'm sorry for not calling, but we at least had times to remember."

Shirley was obviously waiting for a response, and Kallen only gave an audible scoff. On the other end she could hear C.C eating—most likely pizza, knowing her.

She could hear swallowing on one end once more—C.C. "Shirley, get to the point, we can reminisce later."

"Fine, fine," she said annoyed, "Kallen, we need to talk."

Kallen folded her legs up on the couch. "About what exactly? And this had better be good, or so help me god I'll find your house and come over and wrap the phone cord around your neck."

Shirley audibly gulped. C.C remained passive. "It sort of is."

"I'm listening," Kallen responded.

"I think that the three of us should meet up and discuss."

"About what and why can't we do this while we are all on the phone right NOW?!" She poked her head into the hallway, checking to see if her little outburst had woken up Dino. No signs showed that he was awake.

"Because it's late now, and I'm watching a movie that I can't afford to miss right now," C.C said a bit angrily. Obviously the girl was just as irritable to chatting at this time of the morning.

"Also, we can cover more grounds in a face to face conversation," Shirley added in. From her end Kallen could tell that Shirley had rolled her eyes at C.C's reasons given.

"And what exactly makes any of you think that I don't have anything to do tomorrow, much less want to meet up with any of you."

"I told you so," C.C had said, her words obviously meant for Shirley.

"We figured as much, but if you do change your mind then come to Marco's bar tomorrow at 12:00 noon."

"Again, what makes you think I don't have anything to do tomorrow? Which I do; I have to go to work, I work at Krusty's," she lied.

"Don't lie Kallen, your hair will fall out the old saying goes. You got fired from there just the other day for beating a man near to death for reaching up your skirt. He was successful I heard, but some would consider him a loser considering the beating," C.C said, swallowing some food loudly.

Kallen frowned first at how true what C.C had said was, then her eyes gaped in surprise. "Wait, how did you know—"on the other end, she could hear the phone go blank. She cussed angrily.

"That's C.C for you," Shirley said as if in admiration. "Did you really beat him that bad though?"

"I could show you if you like you know," Kallen insisted, for once a smile forming at her lips at how much the idea interested her.

"No thanks. But, either way, if you don't come then I'll not persist further."

The phone went dead right after.

Kallen still held it to her ears, somewhat lost in thought due to the repetitively addicting buzzing.

"Who was that?"

Kallen heart leapt, and she turned around in surprise finding Dino. She regarded his face, her mind running across Lelouch for some reason as she did. With a gentle shake of her head she eliminated the images of Lelouch that were flooding in. "No body," she responded, putting down the phone.

Gino looked her in the eyes thoroughly before sighing. "Okay. But are you coming to bed?"

She turned to the TV, regarding what was showing. She sighed. "Yea, nothing too great is on anyway," she lied.

She actually wanted to sleep off that entire awkward conversation. She turned off the TV, heading to bed with Dino—letting him wrap his arm around her, her own foot over him for comfort. He was asleep within seconds. She hadn't been as fortunate though as thoughts of Lelouch kept flooding; when tears threatened to come she forced herself to sleep.

The next morning she had woken up Dino had already left for work—since the use of mechas for combat wasn't very common anymore, he now worked as an instructor to mecha piloting for Britannia. Originally they had asked her to fill the spot, but she had denied it. She wasn't sure why since the job paid more than almost any job in Japan, but she figured she did it because she didn't want to remember the war and more importantly: Lelouch.

She checked the time. 9: 28. The first thing she remembered was the events of last night, and she frowned pulling herself out of bed.

She had quickly done her morning ritual of using the toilet, taking a bath and brushing her teeth, in that particular order. After that, she considered whether to make breakfast, and decided not to bother since her slight worry over today's meeting made her lose her appetite.

She had spent the morning watching television, but hardly registered what happened on it as she focused on the time as it seemed to dwindle by. Eleven thirty had come and she had gone into the room and started roaming her wardrobe. She felt like she was going on a date as she took an entire twelve minutes to pick out an outfit, when she had promised she would go as casual as possible. She had finally decided to wear a simple red tank top with slim black jeans, and had thrown in a black jacket over it with a pair of red sandals. When twelve o'clock had struck, she felt her heart leap.

Getting up, she had gotten to her room, thrown on her clothes that were still on the bed. She took less than ten minutes to get ready and was about to leave. But then she had decided to wait at least twenty minutes—the last thing she wanted was for the two to think that she really wanted to meet them.

When it was twelve thirty she had left her apartment. She cussed, as she waited for a bus, but then when she found a bus she realized that she didn't known exactly where she was going. The two had told her Marco's bar, but as she thought about it they didn't tell her where that was.

She cussed as she headed back into the apartment and found the phonebook—an easy task since Gino was quite a neat freak perfectionist, a trait she could also remember Lelouch also having. She browsed for the bar, finding it quickly, and righting down the location she left once more, constantly reminding herself that she was only going to stay for a short while to hear what they had to say. If they weren't there when she got there, then she would leave immediately—nothing more, nothing less.

When she had arrived they weren't there. Quite surprising since she was the one intentionally trying to reach late. She had wanted to leave, but she had decided to wait for them over a drink, but only for ten minutes; then another ten minutes and another.

Now, she was peering at the door for a few seconds. Kallen sighed clawing at the bar counter marking it with her nails. "Give me the rest of the bottle you have," she said to the bar man angrily.

She fondled in her jeans for her money, placing it down on the counter. When he gave her the bottle, she took it drinking straight from it, earning a dumfounded look from the barman. She could audibly hear a cat whistle behind her—although it hadn't been the first as since she had arrived men had come to her time and time again to test their luck, every single time she had put them down with a fury of F words, mentally cussing Shirley and C.C as well.

Regarding the time once more, Kallen cussed. She was a good drinker, but with her stomach completely empty from her decision to not eat breakfast she was already light headed from the Brandy. Taking the bottle, swaying a bit, she turned quickly and made an attempt towards the door.

When she turned she found her reason for being.

C.C looked like C.C—her immortality didn't make her age a bit. She was dressed in a

Shirley, was the person who caught her in disbelief the most. She had cut her hair to reach just to her neck, just like Kallen's, which made her seem so different that Kallen kept pondering if it was really the same person. She had on jet black low rider short shorts with a black top to match that showed off a lot of her midriff.

Compared to her, the two girls were considerably under dress. She wasn't sure in that moment if to be angry at herself for making it seemed like she was excited about the meeting by dressing so nicely, or happy that she looked better than them. She concluded to stay mutual though.

The two looked at her, Shirley face held up in a gleeful smile, C.C's own attention focused elsewhere in the bar as if she hadn't even seen her yet. Still, she knew for sure that the green haired pizza lover had seen her.

Regardless, Kallen was angry. She needed to let out some steam and now that they were here she could actually direct her anger at them rather than at the poor men who provoked her.

"What the fuck took you two so long," Kallen started shouting from across the bar, causing everyone else to fall into silence. "You told me meet you here at fucking noon and then you show up almost three fucking hours later. Just because I don't have a fucking job doesn't mean I don't have a fucking life to get back to."

Shirley laughed nervously to pass it off as some kind of joke for the rest of the ba as she proceeded to her, and C.C. once again remained passive.

"Sorry, Kallen, something came up," she said, looking at Kallen kindly in hope of some forgiveness.

Kallen rolled her eyes angrily, and then she looked at C.C who seemed mostly distant. If she was going to hear excuses that she wouldn't forgive then she wanted to hear hers as well. "Well, what's your excuse?" She turned to C.C.

C.C looked at her as if she just noticed her presence and then she made a distasteful expression as if the sight of Kallen sickened her. Kallen managed to let it slide just a bit, but it now had her subconscious as she looked at her clothes to see if what made the girl look at her the way she did was because it was dirty or something.

"I just woke up," C.C said simply.

Kallen rolled her eyes and looked at the two, and then she withdrew the urge to start a bar fight with the two. Despite Shirley's excuse seeming actually genuine and C.C's own being just plain inconsiderate and pathetic, she was more so mad at Shirley since when she came to the bar she expect as much from C.C, but never Shirley.

Grinding her teeth, Kallen stood up. Among the three she was a foot at least taller than Shirley while C.C was a few feet well shorter than them both—something that helped her remember that she was physically dominant to the two and made it hard to resist fighting with them for being later. Regardless, she didn't have the time, neither was she sober enough to be bothered. She wanted to get home and make up for lost sleep.

She took a swig from the bottle of Brandy and placed it down on the counter. "Fuck both of you I don't need this," she said pushing past the middle of the two roughly, she headed for the door.

"But you do need Lelouch," C.C's voiced called out just before Kallen could reach to open the door.

Kallen froze, and for a second she felt tears begin to come and bile in her throat. Turning roughly, she stamped back to the counter to take a seat. Angrily, she attempted to sit down but out of anger she missed her seat and fell to the floor.

Shirley snickered lightly. She ignored it as she stood up and this time sat down more delicately.

Both C.C and Shirley took a seat on either of her, and Shirley had ordered a glass of water. C.C had inquired the bartender if he had pizza. Because of her hunger, despite the fact that she knew that there wasn't going to be any pizza she was sort of hoping that there might have been and expressed same mutual disappointment with C.C when he said no. C.C sighed and then she asked for a glass of wine.

Both C.C and Shirley began drinking, and Kallen looked from one to the other in expectation. When they said nothing, she groaned. "So?" she asked, looking at mainly Shirley.

"Right. For your sake I'll get straight to the point," Shirley started, placing her drink aside for a bit. "As you might have guess, this is all focused around Lelouch—"

Shirley paused looking at Kallen's face first to see her expression. Visibly she could see the girl mentally thinking of Lelouch as her jaw twitched. Then she looked at C.C who remained passive, still drinking from her glass—she questioned whether the girl was actually listening or not.

Kallen suddenly felt extremely hot, and so she removed her jacket and placed it on her lap, leaving her tank top. When she still felt hot, she felt the need to just strip down, and without much thinking, she went with the feeling and began to pull of her top. She only realized what she was doing when her top was almost off, and quickly she pulled it back down and cussed. To imagine just Lelouch's name could still make her lose her mind.

Watching Kallen in dumbfounded, she only laughed lightly at the act. Then, swallowing some bile in her throat, Shirley continued. "Okay, so, umm, I think that the three of us—the three main women who were involved in Lelouch's life—should get to know each other better."

Shirley looked at the two's faces once more. She didn't say anything as she gave them time to regard—Kallen in particular since C.C still seemed nonchalant and distant to the entire conversation at hand.

Without word, Kallen stood up, her jacket falling off her lap and onto the floor. She didn't even seem to notice the jacket as she turned and then she went for the door. Both C.C and Shirley had turned and watched her, but didn't say a word even as she opened the door and left—they both mutually expected as much from the fiery red head.

Watching the discarded jacket after Kallen's departure, Shirley sighed.

"I still want pizza," C.C had said out of the blue. Her glass of wine was finished and she was now running her index finger along the interior of the glass for some more; sucking on her finger delicately when she picked up the last bit.

The completely off topic statement at least made Shirley lighten up as she picked up Kallen's discarded jacket. "Umm, yea, sure, let's go get some pizza, the entire day is my treat," she said and reached into her pocket and pulled out some money.

C.C noticed it was just enough to pay for them both and felt grateful.

**Fun Question #1:** How many F words in total has Kallen cussed in the prologue chapter?

**Author's Thoughts:**

Okay. This story is one of the many stories that I had thought up a long time ago but because of time and sheer laziness I have constantly put it off, until now. Much like most of my other fics, I've thought it all out already, including how it will progress all the way to the end, all I have to do now is get the spirit to write it so that I can share it with all of you.

Either way, contribute what you think of it so far. Be noted, right now, one of my major writing issues is grammar. I just don't feel sometimes like I'm writing on literate level. So, umm, all of you grammar Nazis I really welcome your criticism.


End file.
